US announces $3 billion electric vehicle battery production
We at The Optimist Daily are enormous electric vehicle fans, and we’re not the only ones. Demand for electric vehicles has risen so sharply around the world that manufacturers and supply chains are struggling to keep up. To help things along, state and federal governments are stepping up to Read More...
Could tidal energy be the new wave of renewables?
Time and tide wait for no man, so the saying goes. Sailors used to have to sail with the inevitable changing of the tides and were subject to the whims of the sea. Now, in Wales, humans will soon use the sea’s reliable indifference to us to generate energy. Construction has begun on the Read More...
Researchers use new AI to advance solar cell manufacturing
Solar energy is becoming more affordable and easier to produce every day. As the market grows, so too is the field of research. Solar scientists have been working with perovskites, a family of mineral and ceramic materials that are a top contender to replace silicon as the next level up in Read More...
Greece is home to Europe’s largest double-sided solar farm
In April 2022, the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis inaugurated an enormous two-sided 204-megawatt solar park—the biggest system in all of Europe. The installation of this bifacial solar farm is part of Greece’s aim to double its installed capacity from renewables to approximately 19 Read More...
Germany accelerates schedule to become carbon neutral
People are more animated than ever before for green energy and calling on their governments to aim bigger. And it seems like they're listening. With increasing gas prices from the war in Ukraine and scientists' warnings about climate change, governments realize the need for a speedier change to Read More...
Ultrathin "honeycomb" solar panels achieve record efficiency
One day, cities and hopefully everything else will be powered by renewable resources like wind and solar. To do that, though, we will need to continue to improve on our renewable tech, like creating solar panels that can absorb solar energy in many different levels of sunlight. A new development Read More...
How do solar panels break? And how do we fix them?
At the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, teams of scientists and researchers spend large parts of their day jumping on, twisting, smashing, and generally coming up with various ways of breaking solar panels. It’s not malice, it’s not incompetence. It's not Read More...
Refueling on Mars: making biofuel from astronaut wastewater
As space exploration develops further, scientists and engineers are innovating more outlandish ways for humans to survive beyond our planet. What was once magic becomes science as experts think outside the box and brilliantly repurpose resources in closed environments, such as growing lettuce in Read More...
Oregon wastewater facility makes its own power with human waste
Two weeks ago, we wrote a piece on upcycling your “business,” going into the green uses some companies found for human waste. Innovation and recycling mean looking everywhere possible for solutions, and The Optimist Daily loves writing about the ones that are found… even if they come out of Read More...
How green hydrogen is taking off
Hydrogen is key to a major energy shift in our society. Many sectors of the economy and the power grid can decarbonize by switching to green hydrogen. The market for hydrogen is expected to grow to $2.5 trillion by 2050, and many industries, such as air travel, see the writing on the wall. Read More...